Immigration arrests in recent weeks have some locals who are in the country illegally afraid to travel outside their homes and leave their windows open.

Enforcement and Removal Operations officers from Newark arrested four people on Aug. 8 in Freehold Township on suspicion of being in the country illegally, according to ICE officials. They were taken to Elizabeth Detention Center.

Local advocates say they have heard reports of immigration arrests in July around Lakewood, though ICE officials could not confirm that.

In Freehold, residents told Casa Freehold director Rita Dentino that the officers made arrests at the house after reaching through an open basement window to unlock a door from the inside.

"One concern I have is the way they entered the house without permission," she said. "It's trespassing the boundaries of law that we thought were in place. Those laws are to protect everybody."

Dentino said the arrests struck fear into the other tenants of a house, especially a pregnant mother without legal status. She and her children hid in the basement when the officers entered the house. "No one should be put in that position."

When asked about the alleged trespassing, officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement said, "ICE conducts targeted immigration enforcement in compliance with federal law and agency policy."

The most recent arrests reflect a national shift in the agency's policy. Under President Barack Obama, they were advised to prioritize alleged gang members, drug traffickers and felons who lacked legal status. President Donald Trump's Jan. 25 executive order determined everyone lacking legal status was a priority for deportation.

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to focus its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security," ICE officials said in a statement. "However, as ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan has made clear, ICE does not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement."

New Jersey has one of the highest populations of immigrants who came here illegally in the country. The state has an estimated 498,000 unauthorized immigrants, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan think tank Migration Policy Institute. An estimated 23,000 live in Monmouth County. The institute does not carry estimates for Ocean County.

Locals who have advocated for an immigration crackdown say they welcome the arrests. Joseph Rudy Rullo, a Trump supporter who ran for governor in the Republican primary, says workers who entered the country illegally undercut his landscaping business.

The arrests have some Shore residents concerned, but the initial panic has died down since earlier rumors of statewide raids, which were debunked.

Still, immigration lawyers are being kept busy. John Leschak, an immigration attorney based in Freehold, says he receives at least three calls a week about arrests in Lakewood alone.

"It doesn't stop," he said.

Some immigrants have packed up their belongings and returned to their home countries, Leschak said. He recalls one client was eligible for protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program but quit after starting the application. That client expressed fears that his wife, who also lacked legal status, would be targeted.

"The whole family's going back, and the kids were born here," Leschak said. "He feels afraid."

Dentino tells immigrants without status to be wary of visits from immigration officials: "I tell them, don't open your door, and make sure your house is secure. And if something should happen where you're with ICE and with police, you have the right to remain silent."